An AirAsia X flight made an emergency landing soon after take-off from the Gold Coast following a suspected “rare” bird strike which caused the plane’s engine to burst into flames, a final report has revealed.

Taking off at 10.50pm, minutes into the flight the plane began vibrating, passenger Tim Joga said.

“There was a little bit of a shudder," he said.

"I think it was the engine shutting down and starting back up."

After a company pilot travelling as a passenger on board alerted crew of a “starboard fire” which was visible from the cabin, the crew made a MAYDAY call and landed safely at Brisbane Airport at 11.10pm, the final report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.

The report revealed, the carcass of one bird and “additional debris” of another bird were found by the Gold Coast airport operator along the same runway the D7202 flight had taken off from.